Kukla's Korner Hockey

The Anaheim Ducks took the day off Friday to rest up and wait for the goalie to arrive who wasn’t officially coming, but actually was.

In fact, as we write this, John Gibson is probably finding out from Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau whether or not, after getting off the flight from Norfolk, Va., where he’s been lighting it up in the nets for Anaheim’s farm team, he’s going to be starting in goal in a pivotal Game 4 against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday evening at Staples Centre.

The forecast is “unlikely”, but gusting to “with Boudreau, you never know.”

He has done it before, benching Jose Theodore and starting rookie Semyon Varlamov in Game 2 of the Washington Capitals’ playoff series against the New York Rangers, which the Caps rallied to win in seven.

He has already started a rookie, Frederik Andersen, over veteran Jonas Hiller for most of these playoffs, though Hiller played the first two games vs. the Kings, both losses, and came off the bench for the third time in the post-season Thursday night when Andersen appeared to wrench his knee in the third period of the Ducks’ 3-2 series-salvaging victory.

Comments

I recall a post on this site pre-playoffs heralding the great and powerful goalie trio in Anaheim. Most comments said it was like football… if you have two quarterbacks, you have no quarterback. Seems that’s how it’s worked out.